Not less than 11 persons are useless and dozens injured after a driver ploughed right into a crowd at a road competition in Vancouver on the eve of Canada’s election, in an assault that the prime minister, Mark Carney, mentioned left the nation “shocked, devastated and heartbroken”.
Vancouver’s police chief described the carnage as “the darkest day” within the metropolis’s historical past and advised reporters it was “impossible to overstate how many lives have been impacted for ever” by the lone driver.
“There are many unanswered questions about this horrific crime, the motive of the person who did it, and whether anything could have been done to prevent it,” mentioned the interim chief constable, Steve Rai. “There are many things we still don’t know. We are working hard to get all of the answers.”
Rai mentioned officers felt assured the incident was not an act of terrorism and there have been no identified prior threats to the Filipino neighborhood. A 30-year-old man who had been driving a black Audi SUV was arrested. The suspect had a “significant history of interactions with police and police and healthcare professionals related to mental health”, Rai mentioned.
Rai mentioned the person, who’s from Vancouver, was not at present being recognized, as prices had not but been laid in opposition to him. The names, ages and genders of the victims are additionally but to be launched.
The Lapu Lapu competition, held on a balmy spring day, drew almost 100,000 individuals, lots of whom had been households with younger kids. The celebration is known as after Datu Lapu-Lapu, an Indigenous resistance fighter within the Philippines, who orchestrated the defeat of the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan in battle in 1521.
Saturday’s competition was the second annual occasion for the town and organisers marketed a road parade, artisans, cultural actions, a basketball match and native meals distributors. .
Carney, the Liberal occasion prime minister and former Financial institution of England governor who’s favorite to win Monday’s election, paused campaigning to deal with the nation on Sunday morning.
“Those families are living every family’s nightmare,” mentioned a visibly emotional Carney. “I know that I join all Canadians in mourning with you. I know that Canadians are united with you.” Carney referenced “Bayanihan”, the Filipino worth of neighborhood serving these in want. “This spirit upon which we must draw in this incredibly difficult time. We will comfort the grieving. We will care for each other. We will unite in common purpose.”
Carney mentioned he had been briefed by nationwide safety officers who believed the attacker acted alone and that there was no lively risk to the general public.
“Last night was extremely difficult and the community will feel this for a long time,” RJ Aquino, the chair of the competition organiser Filipino BC, advised reporters, asking the media to respect the privateness of these affected. “We know that there’s a lot of questions floating about and we don’t have all the answers, but we want to tell everybody that we’re grieving.”
Vancouver had greater than 38,600 residents of Filipino heritage in 2021, representing 5.9% of the town’s complete inhabitants, in accordance with Statistics Canada.
Ferdinand Marcos Jr, the Filipino president, mentioned he was “completely shattered” by the incident and that his authorities conveyed the “deepest sympathies to the families of the victims and to the strong and thriving Filipino community in Canada”.
King Charles mentioned he and his spouse had been “profoundly saddened” by the assault and “send our deepest possible sympathy at a most agonising time for so many in Canada”.
The incident occurred shortly after 8pm native time (1300 BST), mentioned Rai. The occasion was wrapping up, however many festivalgoers had been within the space when the motive force within the SUV approached. A picture posted to X half an hour earlier than confirmed a busy road with younger individuals wanting on the wares of meals truck distributors.
“It is hard to make sense of something so senseless, and I know there are questions about whether this tragedy could have been prevented,” mentioned Rai.
Footage posted on-line confirmed a black luxurious SUV with a broken entrance hood parked on a road affected by particles as first-aiders tended to individuals mendacity on the bottom.
One witness advised CTV Information he noticed a car driving erratically within the space of the competition simply earlier than the gang was hit. The Vancouver Solar mentioned 1000’s of individuals had been within the space.
“I didn’t get to see the driver, all I heard was an engine rev,” mentioned Yoseb Vardeh, a meals truck operator, in an interview with Postmedia. “I got outside my food truck, I looked down the road and there’s just bodies everywhere. He went through the whole block, he went straight down the middle.”
Kris Pangilinan, a Toronto-based journalist attending the competition, advised CBC Information [the driver] simply slammed the pedal down and rammed into a whole lot of individuals. It was like seeing a bowling ball hit – all of the bowling pins and all of the pins flying up within the air.”
“It was like a war zone … There were bodies all over the ground,” he mentioned.
Competition attenders held the suspect till police may arrive. Police mentioned the person was identified to them “in certain circumstances”.
Video circulating on social media confirmed a younger man in a hoodie along with his again in opposition to a chain-link fence, alongside a safety guard and surrounded by bystanders screaming and swearing at him. “I’m sorry,” the person mentioned, holding his hand to his head.
Police arrange a 24-hour help centre to assist anybody who had been unable to contact kinfolk or mates who had been on the competition.
Harjit Sajjan, a former defence minister who beforehand labored as a police officer in Vancouver, advised CTV Information the aftermath was the “the largest crime scene that I’ve seen. I’ve been to many crime scenes in that neighbourhood before … This is unfathomable.”
The Vancouver mayor, Ken Sim, mentioned: “Our thoughts are with all those affected and with Vancouver’s Filipino community during this incredibly difficult time.
The incident cast a pall over the final day of the federal election campaigning. Canadians go to the polls on Monday in a vote heavily influenced by the spectre of Donald Trump’s threats to annex Canada and a trade war he has launched against his country’s northern neighbour.
The New Democratic party (NDP) leader, Jagmeet Singh, had attended the festival to meet voters. He left about an hour before the incident.
“Having been at the Lapu Lapu festival, this is a festival with kids there and families there,” Singh mentioned. “I don’t have the words to describe the pain that I’m feeling now at the lives that were lost … We don’t know the motives, we don’t know any of the details. But, ultimately, this is something that targeted the Filipino community and the Filipino community right now is reeling.”
The NDP cancelled 4 different occasions within the province schedule for Sunday. Carney’s marketing campaign mentioned a big rally in British Columbia had been cancelled.
“All Canadians are united in solidarity with the Filipino community,” the Conservative chief, Pierre Poilievre, mentioned whereas visiting a Filipino church in Ontario. “All Canadians are united with you in mourning the loss of these treasured lives and in binding our country together to support the surviving loved ones.”
The Tory chief referred to as the SUV ramming assault a “senseless act of violence”.
“I know that today will be a day of prayer and reflection for the Filipino community and for all Canadians and I want you to know that all our country is with you today as you mourn this terrible loss,” he mentioned.
